Booking Dr. Carrier

Unfortunately due to the increasing demands of work and income I can no longer speak for free. For any speaking engagement I require expenses, a $250 honorarium, and (usually) an opportunity to sell my books at your event. If you want to do a teleconference, I charge only $150 (per hour), and no expenses. I teach regular courses online for considerably less, but not live. And even for having me appear in person, normally the only expenses you have to cover are transportation and lodging.

The largest expense is always transportation. I live in California, thirty minutes from the Oakland airport, an hour from the San Francisco airport; those transit times double during rush hour. The lowest expense is often lodging, as I actually prefer to stay as the guest of a local freethinker (or friendly believer). So if you can find any volunteers to take me in, all I need is a warm bed and a hot shower. If you are a driving distance from me, I charge fifty cents a mile (but counting the distance only once, not round-trip). I am also not often available, so arrangements should be made at least three months in advance, and preferably six months or more. Contact me for negotiating a date and other essentials. If you've already booked me and just need bios or photos see my Publicity page.

Sharing the costs with other organizations. Consider teaming up several organizations for a single joint event, or more. I am willing to stay several days for multiple events. You will have to board me for those extra nights, and I charge only $75 for each additional debate or speaking engagement, but informal events are free (e.g. dinner parties, meet-and-greets, etc.). Just feed me copious amounts of alcohol. To give you an idea, I once spoke at a university, the costs of which were split three ways by the campus freethought group and two different academic departments that were interested in the subject of my talk. On another occasion I spoke to two separate atheist community groups in cities near each other, a volunteer driving me between them, and the two groups split my honorarium and airfare. So feel free to be creative. My time is flexible.

Note that I will not speak at events run by organizations hostile to my values. That means organizations that are unwilling to repudiate sexism, racism, and homophobia, or that do not endorse the values of reasonableness, compassion, and integrity. You do not have to make a public statement or policy on this. You don't even have to specifically mention it. But I must feel comfortable that you are an organization that shares these values. And I will assume you are, unless I have reason not to. But if you consider my taking a stand on this to be divisive, don't ask me to speak at your event (unless it is specifically to debate our moral differences in a reasonable manner). Otherwise I will work with any organization that approves of this value statement, even if it is not an atheist organization or is even an explicitly religious organization.

If you do want to book me, please tell me what topics you want me to speak on. Find out what your group or audience is most keen to hear. I've delivered many public speeches to religious and freethought groups around the country since 1998. I lecture on critical thinking, historical method, the philosophy of naturalism, humanism and feminism, and ancient history, especially ancient science and religion and the origins of Christianity. For an idea of where I've spoken recently (or soon will), and on what subjects, see my blog [old and new]. For other ideas browse my whole website. For video and audio recordings of some of my past events see my A/V Page. The following are my forte:

General:

Ancient Roman science, technology, philosophy, and religion

The philosophy of naturalism and the importance of naturalism as a worldview

Historical method and what makes for a good historian

Arguments for and against the resurrection of Jesus or the existence of God

Christian apologetics and the skills and tactics of debate

Specific:

The origins of Christianity

The origins of science

The historicity of Jesus

Logical Thinking

Bayes' Theorem

I'm also willing to participate in formal debates, but I have strict requirements that must be met. See my Debate Requirements page. You may also hire me for writing, consultation, teaching or research, but for that I'm expensive and rarely available.

If you want to discuss booking me for any event or assignment please contact me by phone or text, especially if urgent. Although I prefer to communicate by email several months in advance.